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SPORTS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2014 Resurgent Schalke earn third straight victory BERLIN: Schalke 04 extended their six-match unbeaten run with a 2-0 win at home to Hanover yesterday to stay fourth in the Bundesliga behind run-away leaders Bayern Munich. Schalke host Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid in the last 16, first leg of the Champions League in three weeks time and have hit form after back-to-back defeats in December with three straight wins since the winter break. The Royal Blues put on a regal performance at Gelsenkirchen’s Veltins Arena with Jefferson Farfan tapping home after a superb run from defender Sead Kolasinac on 39 minutes, then teenage wunderkind Max Meyer added a sec- ond a minute before the break. ITALY: Juventus’ Carlos Tevez (right) of Argentina, is chased by Veronaís Juan Manuel The defeat broke Hanover’s recent form hav- Iturbe, of Paraguay, during a Serie A soccer match. — AP ing won their first two games of the year under new coach Tayfun Korkut to leave the guests Juve spurn chance to extend lying tenth. Earlier, ten-man VfB Stuttgart dropped closer lead as misfiring Roma held to the Bundesliga’s relegation battle as they suf- fered their fifth-straight defeat in a 4-1 rout at home to buoyant Augsburg. MILAN: Verona forward Juan Gomez came off when he reacted quickly the rebound after Bavarian minnows Augsburg are dreaming of the bench to level late and secure a 2-2 draw ‘keeper Rafael had pushed out Kwadwo international football next season as they rose to at home to Juventus as the champions Asamoah’s weighted cross. eighth, just two points from the top six, as they spurned the chance to extend their lead on The Argentinian struck his second to give put Stuttgart to the sword to go six games misfiring Roma yesterday. the Old Lady a 2-0 lead before the half hour, unbeaten. Two goals by midfielder Andre Hahn Roma were away to Lazio in the city derby but if there was just a hint of offside from his did the damage for Augsburg, who set a new GERMANY: Schalkeís Atsuto Uchida (in front) jumps with Hannoverís Leonardo Bittencourt only four days after a 3-2 win over Napoli in first goal - Fernando Llorente appearing out club record of nine victories in a Bundesliga sea- during the German Bundesliga soccer match. —AP the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-final. of position-there was even more suspicion on son at Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Arena. But despite shading what was a rough and his second. Leaders Bayern extended both their unbeat- Mandzukic and captain Philipp Lahm sealed the To compound the hosts’ misery, Stuttgart had tumble encounter at the Olympic Stadium, Tevez began his run on to Paul Pogba’s en Bundesliga records with a 2-0 win at win. In the basement battle, Eintracht Frankfurt captain Vedad Ibisevic sent off with 53 minutes Rudi Garcia’s men failed to grab the win that through ball on the left of the area just a little Nuremberg to remained 13 points clear in the moved up to 12th with a 3-0 win at home to bot- gone for a striking Augsburg’s Jan-Ingwer would have reduced their deficit on the too quickly and swept the ball past Rafael on Bundesliga as the runaway leaders left tom side Eintracht Braunschweig. Callsen-Bracker in the face. Bianconeri to seven points with a game in 21 minutes. Nuremberg with 56 out of a possible 60 points Freiburg were held to a 1-1 draw at home to The defeat leaves Stuttgart 14th in the table, hand. Verona’s woes deepened just after the half this season. Hoffenheim while sixth-placed VfL Wolfsburg only two places from the relegation zone. Draws for both title challengers mean hour when their claims for a penalty were This was Bayern’s 45th unbeaten Bundesliga enjoyed a 3-0 win at home to Mainz 05. On Juventus retained their nine-point lead over waved off despite the ball clearly coming off Hamburg are also deep in the relegation mire match, dating back to October 2012, and their Friday, second-placed Bayer Leverkusen enjoyed the Giallorossi, with Napoli, who outclassed the arms of defender Martin Caceres follow- after they were thrashed 3-0 at home to Hertha 29th unbeaten away league game to extend a 1-0 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach with AC Milan on Saturday, are now only four ing a corner. Berlin on Saturday night to set an unwelcome their records with a rare win in Nuremberg. South Korea’s Son Heung-Min scoring the sec- points off second place in third. The hosts earned some rough justice club record of six straight defeats. Goals either side of half-time by striker Mario ond-half winner. —AFP With Napoli virtually out of the title equa- when striker Toni headed home seven min- Colombia striker Adrian Ramos, who has tion, it remains a two-horse race for this sea- utes after the restart to reduce arrears. been linked to Real Madrid and Borussia son’s scudetto and Garcia, whose side have Dortmund for next season, scored twice to leave German League results/standings yet to play a postponed match against Parma, ‘AN UNBELIEVABLE FEELING’ Hamburg second from bottom as they were appeared defiant. Ironically, Toni and several other Verona booed by their own fans at the final whistle. VfB Stuttgart 1 (Rausch 62) Augsburg 4 (Milik 35, Hahn 43, 56, Werner 64) players appeared to have breached Juve’s Several senior stars, including captain Rafael Schalke 2 (Farfan 39, Meyer 44) Hanover 96 0. BRIGHT SIDE defence as Romulo whipped in a free kick van der Vaart, found themselves pelted by mis- Played Saturday “We have to look on the bright side that Toni headed past Buffon at the keeper’s siles when they went to calm angry fans after VfL Wolfsburg 3 (Rodriguez 59-pen, Dost 66, Luiz Gustavo 75) Mainz 05 0; Werder Bremen 1 because we haven’t lost any points to near post. the game. Hamburg have said they will continue (Aycicek 89) Borussia Dortmund 5 (Lewandowski 26, 85, Mkhitaryan 41, 62, Friedrich 48); Juventus,” the Frenchman told Sky Sport Former Southampton striker Pablo Dani with coach Bert van Marwijk, but results must Nuremberg 0 Bayern Munich 2 (Mandzukic 18, Lahm 49); Freiburg 1 (Schmid 68) Hoffenheim 1 Italia. “Their draw adds even more value to Osvaldo made his Juve debut when he improve. Third-placed Borussia Dortmund (Modeste 85); Eintracht Frankfurt 3 (Flum 7, Maier 43, Aigner 44) Eintracht Braunschweig 0; our 3-1 win (away to Verona two weeks ago). replaced Llorente on 65 minutes and missed romped to a 5-1 win in Bremen on Saturday. Hamburg 0 Hertha Berlin 3 (Allagui 15, Ramos 23, 39). But we have to remain humble. We have yet scoring by inches when he swiped Andrea Dortmund dismantled Werder Bremen with Poland striker Robert Lewandowski and attack- to play Parma and that’s a game we still have Pirlo’s through ball past Rafael and off the German Bundesliga table after yesterday’s match: (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals ing midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan both scoring to win.” Juventus looked to be on their way to post. Buffon then produced a fine one-hand- against, points): a comfortable win in the north east after a ed save to keep out Toni’s left-footed strike twice. The thrashing came at a price as both Bayern Munich 20 18 2 0 53 9 56 Hanover 96 20 7 3 10 29 35 24 Carlos Tevez double inside 21 minutes. and Verona had another penalty claim denied Germany midfielders Marco Reus and Sven Bayer Leverkusen 20 14 1 5 37 20 43 Hoffenheim 20 5 7 8 40 43 22 However Luca Toni reduced arrears just after the ball came off the arm of Stephan Bender are ruled out of this week’s double head- Dortmund 20 12 3 5 47 24 39 Frankfurt 20 5 6 9 24 34 21 after the restart and Juan Gomez headed past Lichsteiner as the Swiss marked Toni at er against Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday in the Schalke 20 11 4 5 39 29 37 Werder Bremen 20 5 5 10 24 45 20 Gianluigi Buffon in the fourth minute of injury Buffon’s near post. cup and in Saturday’s league match. M’gladbach 20 10 3 7 36 25 33 Stuttgart 20 5 4 11 33 41 19 time as Juve’s defence lost focus at a late free Juve continued to threaten, however, and This was the 12th time this season Bremen VfL Wolfsburg 20 10 3 7 33 24 33 Freiburg 20 4 6 10 20 36 18 kick. Arturo Vidal tested Rafael with a strike which have conceded three or more goals and coach Hertha Berlin 20 9 4 7 31 24 31 Nuremberg 20 2 11 7 24 36 17 Juve coach Antonio Conte told Sky: “These the keeper did well to push over. Robin Dutt is under increasing pressure with his Augsburg 20 9 4 7 30 29 31 Hamburg 20 4 4 12 33 47 16 kinds of games last 95 minutes, and we But the visitors were stunned at the death. side 13th and just three points from the relega- Mainz 05 20 9 3 8 29 35 30 Braunschweig 20 3 3 14 11 37 12 should never lose our concentration, espe- The hosts won a free kick to the right of Juve’s tion places.